Elliott opened the window and Theo stood—still holding his giftbag—wincing as the smoke alarm’s wails continued.
“What about it we—?”
Clare jabbed a finger at him. “Don’t you dare say it, Elliott Swift. Don’t you fucking dare.”
Mason flashed a grin and Cat rolled her lips between her teeth.
“Say what?” Theo looked between Elliott and Clare, then back to Cat.
Elliott shrugged. “Take out.”
Epilogue
Elliott
(One Year Later)
“Big day today, Coach.” Theo slapped Elliott on his shoulder and gave a squeeze. “Got your game face on?”
Elliott shook his head. “She told you?”
“She’s my girl, Coach. She tells me everything.”
Elliott slowly turned to face Theo who threw his hands up in surrender. “Okay, fine. She doesn’t tell meeverything. But she told me this, yes.”
“Which this?”
Theo checked over both shoulders. “The proposal.” He checked again. “And the house closes today, right?”
His gut swirled. She’d told him both things. So she’d basically told him everything. With a sigh, Elliott shrugged. “Maybe I should give it a bit more time. Maybe I—”
Theo patted his chest. “It’s cool, Coach. I make a great wing man. Today’s the day. Therightday. You get to cut the last tie to your past and finally put a ring on your future. It’s all good.”
While it wasn’t quite the smack upside the head Dad would have given, the kid also wasn’t wrong. Dad. He rubbed his chest with a clenched fist. It had been six months since Mom had passed peacefully in her sleep, and less than twenty-four hours later, Dad had died, too.
Elliott had always known that when the time came for one of his parents to let go, it wouldn’t be long for the other one to pass away either. They didn’t know how to live without each other, nor did they want to.
A love to last the ages. That’s what his parents had, it was what he had with Clare, and Theo was right. It was the right day to put a ring on it. He should have done it the moment he’d come back into her life, but he needed to prove he was worthy first.
“You have the paint?”
“Yes, Coach. It’s already on the ice. Enzo says snacks and merch are both ready. Seb says the team is down on the ice. Doors open in ten.”
With the loss of two heavyweights on the team, Lincoln and Russell at the end of the previous season when they graduated, Elliott had—once again—been faced with the insurmountable task of filling their skates on the roster.
Mercifully, Theo and Enzo had both stepped up and were coming into their own. They had both turned out to be quite dependable. And despite the fact Theo wasstilldating “Coach’s daughter,” things weren’t half bad.
“Got the ring?” Though he had a tendency to be a relentless pain in the ass.
“Yes, Theo. I have the ring.”
Theo’s phone chimed. “Cat says they’re pulling up outside.” He bounced on the balls of his feet. “I’ve never painted the ice before. I mean, I’ve seen NHL teams do it at the end of the season, but I’ve never done it myself, y’know?”
Elliott arched a brow. “You realize it’s more for the fans than for the players, right?”
“Huh?” Theo frowned. “What? Oh. Yeah. Yes. Totally. No reason we can’t have fun with it too, right, Coach?”
Elliott leveled him with a hard stare. “If so much as one of my players draws anything remotely phallic, or cusses in paint on that ice, so help me—”
